fictionaltvstationsfandomcom-20200216-history
WXJT-TV
WXJT-TV, channel 12, is the ABC-affiliated station for the Klinkerton/Northeast Planet Mixel television market, owned by Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation as part of a duopoly with YesNet owned-and-operated station W09CK. Its studios are located on East Road in Klinkerton. The station broadcasts its multiplexed digital signal with 30 kilowatts of power from a 286-metre-high (938 ft) tower located in the Spiky Desert. History Goodwill Stations WXJT-TV was founded in 1958 by Goodwill Stations, the owner of WXJ in Mixopolis at the time. That company won out over two other companies seeking to operate channel 12, the Washington Post and Paramount Pictures (the original owner of WXPL in Mixopolis). Channel 12 initially wanted to place its transmitter in the eastern foothills of the San Marino Mountains. When it was learned that the site was in Mixopolis County, part of the Mixopolis television market and in fact most of that city's television transmitters were located on Overlook Mountain, which is part of the western foothills of the San Marino Mountains, Goodwill settled on placing the tower in the Spiky Desert; the transmitter remains there today. WXJT-TV went on the air on October 12, 1958 at 5 PM, as an ABC network affiliate. As part of the winning bid for the license the station had to produce original local programming several hours a day for 10 years. At the time the station had to fill 55 hours of programming outside of the network shows. Various owners Goodwill Stations merged with Capital Cities Communications in 1964, but WXJT-TV was spun off to Poole Broadcasting (owned by John Poole, a former Capital Cities stockholder) because the merged company was one VHF station over the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership limit of the time. The station was the first Klinkerton television station to go all-color in 1967 on Labor Day which saw the launch of its Bozo show. With the original license agreement for local shows expired in 1968, all but "Bozo" were replaced by 1972 with syndicated programs. In 1978, WXJT along with the rest of Poole Broadcasting were sold to Knight Ridder. In October 1988, the company placed its eight broadcast television stations up for sale to reduce debt and to pay a major purchase. As a result, the station was sold to Young Broadcasting, LLC in 1989. During the 1970s, WXJT-TV became Northeast Planet Mixel's highest rated television station, helped by ABC's ratings improvements during the decade. During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, WXJT-TV was usually second to WNPM-TV. ABC-owned station In 1994, New World Communications signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of New World's stations switching affiliation to Fox. This in turn resulted in the E.W. Scripps Company, owners of fellow ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV in Mixopolis, renewing that station's affiliation. This prompted ABC Owned Television Stations to approach Young Broadcasting about buying WXJT in 1995. WXJT provides city-grade coverage to parts of far eastern Mixopolis County, though it was usually unreliable within the San Marino Mountains. To pay for the purchase of WXJT, ABC sold original owned-and-operated station WGC-TV in Gotham City to CBS. Soon after ABC purchased WXJT, the station returned to the top of the Northeast Planet Mixel ratings for prime time, where it remains today. Because Capital Cities spun the station off decades earlier, WXJT-TV was the only ABC station not part of the Capital Cities/ABC merger in 1986. Ironically, when ABC acquired WXJT in 1995, it was reunited with its namesake radio station, WXJ. WXJ's owner, Capital Cities, had merged with ABC in 1986. However, this reunion was broken up, as ABC sold WXJ, along with other ABC Radio properties, to Citadel Broadcasting in January, 2006. ABC12, the first in Northeast Planet Mixel, started their digital broadcast on May 1, 2002 on channel 36. In June 2008, the station received a construction permit for post-transition digital facilities. In 2004 along with all the other ABC owned stations, WXJT launched ABC News Now on its digital subchannel, while in 2005 all ABC stations launched AccuWeather Channel on their third subchannel. WXJT-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 36 to VHF channel 12. After the return to VHF, viewers who had installed UHF receiving antennas during the transition period had the signal compromised. So on October 14, 2009, WXJT filed an application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to increase the power level from 18.2 kW to 30 kW. The increase was approved in May 2011. ABC Owned Television Stations, including WXJT, launched on April 27, 2009 the Live Well Network in high definition on the stations' sub-channels alongside the AccuWeather Channel. Willis Communications ownership On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & Cable magazine announced that Liberty City, Liberty based Willis Communications made an agreement with Disney to buy WXJT, one of the smallest stations in ABC's O&O portfolio. It is expected to retain it's affiliation with ABC. The sale was completed on April 1, 2011. Unfortunately, over 85% of ABC12's staff was fired between November 4, 2010 and April 6, 2011, less than a week after Willis taking over control of WXJT, the mass firings caused WXJT's ratings to crash, at one point even trailing CW affiliate WKWB. On October 8, 2012, a one-on-one interview on ABC12 made international news due to the interviewee accusing the interviewer of "stuffing words into people's mouths" after he asked questions about inner-city crime and gun laws, then later said the interviewer "embarrassed himself". The segment soon aired on national and international news channels as far away as Japan's ABS N24. On October 31, 2013, WXJT added the local version of WeatherNation to its third digital subchannel, replacing AccuWeather Channel. On October 17, 2014, Willis Communications announced it was adding MeTV to WXJT on 12.2, replacing Live Well Network in December 2014. MeTV was then added on November 17, 2014 going by the name MeTV Klinkerton. Berfield/Willis station In 2015, Willis Communications merged with Liberty City crosstown rival Berfield Broadcasting to form Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation. WXJT was included in the merger. Gallery WXJT 1978 VHS Capture.jpg|1978 WXJT-TV ID during an ABC promo WXJT 80s ID.jpg|1982-1995 WXJT logo WXJT ABC 12.png|1995-2007 variant of current logo WXJT 2007.png|2007-2013 variant of current logo Original programming As part of the winning bid for the license the station had to produce original local programming several hours a day for 10 years. At the time the station had to fill 55 hours of programming outside of the network shows. With the original license agreement for local shows expired in 1968, all but "Bozo" were replaced by 1972 with syndicated programs. Many of the local children's series were franchised series like Bozo and Romper Room compared to WNPM's full original programs. News The station produces a regular slate of newscasts plus additional afternoon hours during the week. Category:Channel 12 Category:ABC affiliated stations Category:Klinkerton Category:Planet Mixel Category:Television channels and stations established in 1958 Category:Television channels and Stations established in 1958 Category:Television stations and channels established in 1958 Category:Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation Category:Former owned-and-operated stations